The Dyfi Osprey Project is based on the most westerly of the Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust's reserves, Cors Dyfi. The habitat is peat bog (Cors means bog in Welsh) and wet woodland and reed beds.
From the 1960's to the 1990's, a Sitka spruce plantation was grown here and because the earth has been ploughed and turned over, many other plant species have taken hold - mainly Willows and Sallows, a family of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. So that the peat bog is not taken over by one dominant plant species, we have to find a way of controlling this plant growth.
There are two main options: We could periodically cut back and trim the Willow so that it doesn't get out of control - very difficult to do on wet peat, and it's expensive. Or, we could put animals there to graze it. Your average cows and sheep we're familiar with in the UK are not hardy enough to cope with this difficult habitat, so we need a tougher kind of beast.. The Water Buffalo! These are large bovine animals, frequently used as livestock in southern Asia, and also widely in South America, southern Europe, and northern Africa, and have been coming to Cors Dyfi every summer for a few years now. They do a fantastic job for us in keeping the aggressive Willow and other plants in check. As they roam around, they also create other types of habitats and niches for other plants and animals to grow in, thereby having a positive effect on the biodiversity of the reserve.
One of the Buffs at Cors Dyfi
